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Child killer asks for stay of execution

By Times Wires
Published November 10, 2007

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TAMPA

A child killer scheduled to die next week by lethal injection asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to halt the procedure as the court considers whether execution procedures constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Mark Dean Schwab is scheduled for execution Thursday. The state's highest court denied a stay earlier this week. But the U.S. Supreme Court is considering appeals by two Kentucky inmates that question whether the lethal injection procedure used in most states - including Florida - is unconstitutional. Schwab was convicted of raping and murdering 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez 16 years ago in Brevard County. In a concurring opinion denying Schwab a stay last week, Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente said the decision was better made by the U.S. Supreme Court.

POINCIANA

Burned murder victim is identified

The murder victim whose body was found in Poinciana last week has been identified through dental records as 22-year-old Solymarie Roman of Orlando. Roman's family members contacted the Polk County Sheriff's Office Wednesday after becoming concerned because they had not heard from her since Oct. 31, the day before the body was found, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rogers said. The body was found Nov. 1 as firefighters were extinguishing a brush fire apparently set to destroy the evidence of the homicide.

ORLANDO

Unearthed bombs bother legislators

Some lawmakers want to know whether soil was excavated from an old World War II bombing range in southeast Orlando and perhaps trucked elsewhere for such things as highway embankments or neighborhood fill dirt. In the past five months, bombs, rockets, fuses and a grenade have been uncovered in the area near the old Pinecastle Jeep Range, where the military trained bombardiers. Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez and Rep. Ric Keller sent a request to the Army Corps of Engineers Friday, because bombs recently have been found in areas the Army Corps had declared bomb-free. Their concern is that bombs from the old Pinecastle Jeep Range could have been moved from "borrow pits" over the years by developers. Borrow pits are areas where soil is dug for use elsewhere.